How We Do Date Night & What I Wore

 

We love date night.  We make it a priority.  We plan for it.  We are intentional with it. 

 

What do we do for date night?

 

Recently we celebrated Logan's birthday with a date night out with several of our couple friends.  We got all dressed up and headed out for a child-free evening. Generally we enjoy going to a nice restaurant, ordering a bottle of wine and taking our time.  We usually end up coming home, relaxing and watching a show together .  What I love about a nice  dinner out is a) I don't have to cook, b) I don't have to clean and c) is that we can talk without any interruptions or input from the children.  We get to catch up with one another, like really catch up and not pass information and schedules back and forth. 

 

 

Active Date Nights!

Dinner is one type of date night and one that is our go-to in the winter months.  In Spring/Summer we prefer to have an outdoor activity followed by either an evening at home, cooking together, or dinner out.  We absolutely love being active and making memories together, check anniversary date night here.  Some of our favorite actives:

Tennis

River walk/run/bike ride

Paddle boarding/canoeing

Board games with friends

Picnic

Hiking on new trails

Golf (not really cheap but fun)

X-country skiing/snowshoeing

Skating at an outdoor rink

Pinterest board full of great ideas here.

Sometimes dates are as simple as sharing a cup of coffee and some chocolate together.

Just us and the pups.  Reconnecting with each other and nature.

Anniversary date 2018.  15 years of marriage. 

 

 

What we DON'T do on date night?

We don’t go to the movies.  We used to but now it’s a no-no for us. 

Why? 

Because we don’t talk.  We don’t have to be engaged with each other.  We watch enough TV at home the return on a movie date night isn't high enough.  If movies are your thing, by all means, it's just not something we tend to do.   

 

How often do we have date night?

I think this is, and should be, different for everyone.  What works for you, doesn’t necessarily work for everyone.  Also, this has changed with the seasons of our lives

Our goal is once a month but in reality it’s more like every 6 weeks.  That being said the last couple of years as our children have gotten older and can stay home on their own, we carve out time to go for an evening walk, jog, or go to do errands, just the two of us almost every week.  Currently we don’t have a specific evening that we do it due to our ever changing schedules but we tend to aim for Wednesday evenings. 

The monthly “date” night is much more planned.  We make a plan with friends or by ourselves a couple of weeks in advance.  We connect with my parents, or a babysitter (which we don’t need anymore).  We are fortunate to have my parents nearby and they love having the kids which often means a sleepover for the kids!!!   It’s glorious.  If you don't have this as an options here are a couple of suggestions

a)  Kid Swap.  Kid swap with friends monthly so that you can have a date night.  I think friends are some of the least utilized people in our lives.  We don’t want to impose or inconvenience others, but the truth is they are  likely feeling similar.  They would probably love some sort of arrangement but just like you, but don’t know how to ask. 

b)  Budget.  Babysitters are costly.  I get that.  I would make it a priority and put it into your monthly budget plans. 

c)  If you can't make a monthly date night work, see if you can sneak in an hour weekly into your schedules for a walk by yourselves, and a bigger chunk of time for an evening out quarterly instead of monthly. 

 

Why date night?

Here is my take on this.  In the hustle and bustle of life, the first things two things to go are

a) me and

b) my relationship with my partner. 

It’s easy to get disconnected.  It’s easy to get complacent.  It’s easy to get annoyed because life is hard to juggle.  When I was in my teens and just after high school, many of my friends parents ended up getting  a divorce.  I am not opposed to divorce, in fact I strongly urge people to find happiness and joy that they need to live their best life overall.  That being said, I also feel that it’s easy to let life take over and then find yourself with a person that you care deeply about but necessarily know anymore.  Example, when Logan and I went to London/Paris years ago now, we realized that we hadn’t spent 12 days, heck 3 days, on our own without the kids.  Once we exhausted the topics of our kids, work, and day to day life, we were struggling to figure out how to be just the two of us again.  On this trip not only did we explore new places but we relearned how to make our own fun, reminded each other of why we fit so well together and what drew us to each other in the first place.  The memories we created are now reminisced by us time and time again and we know that we need to carve out some extended alone time.  We can't afford to always go to Paris/London but we can do a weekend getaway to the lake or last year we took a 3 day road trip just the two of us, read here. 

Remembering who we were before getting the best and most important  job in the world, parenting. 

 

 

What I Wore to Date Night Recently?

It's finally warming up here but two weeks ago, it was COLD, COLD, COLD.  I love this monochromatic  outfit, black turtleneck, houndstooth skirt, black tights and booties.  I showcased this exact outfit last week as one of my work outfits, but I actually put it together for this evening and loved it so much that I wanted to replicate it for the office as well.  The best thing about this outfit is the wool coat.  It's finally spring here but two weeks ago we were still in the depths of one of the coldest winters and this 70% wool coat, linked below, is worth the price tag at Aritizia and I see it as an investment piece.  If you are looking for a coat that's classy, chic, and extremely warm, go buy it now while it's on sale, you won't regret it.

 

Shop This Post:

Houndsthooth Skirt (similar, Shien)

Black Turtleneck (similar, Shopbop)

Aritzia Wool Coat (sale alert!)

Black booties (similar; Hudson Bay) 

 

Now tell me how you stay connected with your significant other? 

 What are your favorite date night ideas?